India impatiently awaited Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s response on Wednesday to the death of at least 20 soldiers in a border clash with Chinese troops as the country’s media vented its fury and political rivals goaded Modi over his silence.
India impatiently awaited Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s response on Wednesday to the death of at least 20 soldiers in a border clash with Chinese troops as the country’s media vented its fury and political rivals goaded Modi over his silence.
China’s foreign ministry confirmed there had been a “violent physical confrontation” on Monday on the disputed Himalayan border between the nuclear armed neighbours.
According to Indian officials no shots were fired, but soldiers were hit with clubs and stones during a brawl that erupted between the two sides in the remote Galwan Valley, high in the mountains where India’s Ladakh region borders China’s Aksai Chin.
India’s foreign ministry said there had been casualties on both sides, but China has not disclosed any casualties so far.
Modi, who rode to power on a nationalist campaign, met with his defence and foreign ministers and the military chiefs late on Tuesday, but he had yet to speak publicly on the worst clash since 1967, five years after China had humiliated India in a war.
